Emmanuel Macron, France’s new President-elect, is a man known for his charm (and his wife Brigitte), but less known for his agenda. Is he centrist or socialist, pro-Europe or Eurosceptic? We translated some extracts of the new book Macron Par Macron (Macron By Macron), in which journalist Eric Fottorino questions the politician about his love of philosophy and reading, as well as his beliefs on Europe, immigration, colonialism, and democracy. Here are some of the best bits.

Emmanuel Macron says France is still reeling from the French Revolution

“Democracy is always presented as if it were incomplete, because democracy is not enough by itself,” says Macron, elaborating that there is always something missing in the democratic process; some sort of void.

“In French politics, this absence is the presence of a King, a King whom, fundamentally, I don’t think the French people wanted dead,” said Macron. “The Revolution dug a deep emotional abyss, one that was imaginary and shared: the King is no more!” According to Macron, since the Revolution France has tried to fill this void, most notably with Napoleon and then Charles de Gaulle, which was only partially successful. “The rest of the time,” said Macron, “French democracy does not manage to fill this void.”

Advertisement

Emmanuel Macron on the burkini

“The burkini is not cultic. It is cultural, ideological, and political,” said Macron, who remains balanced on the issue. While he believes that the burkini ban was justified in certain areas, “so as to maintain public order”, and that the garment “is against civil beliefs of gender equality”, he was vehemently against the incident which saw French policeman order a woman to remove her burkini on a beach in Nice, following the terrorist attack. “To defend secularism in such a backwards manner runs the risk of alienating whole communities,” said Macron. “It is vital to defend people’s individual freedom to wear what they like.”

Emmanuel Macron is a centrist to his core

For Macron, there is no such thing as absolute truth, only the multiple journeys that seek it. Like the great French humanist philosopher Montaigne, Macron advocates the need to balance one opinion with another (hence his centrism), and maintaining a certain level of skepticism when assessing knowledge. “It’s what allows influential politics to escape nihilism and all forms of cynicism,” said Macron. “Sole truth, with all the extremism it implies, is not a way out.”

Read next

Inside Paul Manafort’s $1 million wardrobe

The lawyer and lobbyist’s wardrobe really needs investigating.

ByTeo Van den Broeke

Instead, Macron suggests that we should revel in the perpetual deliberation that accompanies the search for truth, which halts the brash decision-making we sometimes see in politics today. Macron wants to strike the perfect balance between "authoritarianism and political passivity".

Emmanuel Macron believes France’s main obstacles are corporations, elitism and the political system

For Macron, the main obstacles in French society are the corporations, intermediary bodies and the political system, whose roles and functions all need to be re-investigated. “Having said that, I am not the enemy of intermediary bodies. They are necessary in structuring society”, he said. “Criticising them is what got me accused of populism like Marine Le Pen. But if speaking to the people or saying that the intermediary bodies are no longer doing their jobs, if that makes me a populist, then so be it – I’ll be a populist!”

Advertisement

Another obstacle for Macron is a growing professional elitism which alienates some of the younger workers in France. “The political, administrative and economic elite have developed a class corporatism,” said Macron, who is also critical of his country's stagnation. “Our society is not the most unequal, but it is one of the most immobile. An absence of mobility feeds defiance – a sense that corporatism stymies everything – and creates a sense of despondency,” he said. “This happens through impeding individual outlooks and shattering dreams of emancipation: society’s most important lifeline.”

Emmanuel Macron has deep philosophical roots

Macron studied Philosophy at Paris Nanterre University, at which he received a very classical education, studying Kant, Aristotle, Descartes and Marcel Conche. “Not very original!” said Macron. “Philosophy’s intellectual refuge, its chance to represent the world, to give it meaning via a different filter, is important,” he said. Macron wrote his dissertation on Hegel, who taught him that, since philosophy is inextricably connected to everyday reality, the best philosophical exercise was to read the newspaper every morning.

“And then I met Paul Ricoeur, who re-educated me about philosophy. I went back to basics, to ground zero,” said Macron, who became the late Protestant philosopher’s editorial assistant. “I spoke to him for several hours, at the end of which he gave me a 50-page manuscript – the first draft of Memory, History, Forgetting. I gave it back to him with my annotations,” said Macron, who then took charge of the book's bibliography.

Emmanuel Macron was baptised but he was raised in a secular household

While Macron was raised in a secular household, he was baptised as a Roman Catholic at his own request at the age of 12. “Individuals need spirituality and transcendence,” says Macron. He is pro-state secularity, and believes that the rules of the Republic should prevail over the rules of religion. Macron also believes that, “the state is a political sphere and must not look to become a substitution for religion.” Nor, according to Macron, should it try and manipulate believers by claiming certain religions to vehicle certain political ideologies.

Advertisement

But at the same time, Macron does not believe in the state stamping on individual faith, and making believers hide their religion. “The state should not attempt to neutralise them nor try and force them to become more discreet, that would be intolerable,” said Macron. “The state might be secular, but society is not.” It is the state’s responsibility, in Macron’s eyes, to make sure the country’s different religions are all able to cohabit peacefully; able to express their beliefs all the while respecting their differences.

Emmanuel Macron on Europe

While Macron has said he is neither Eurosceptic nor pro-Europe, he has often been called a Europhile by the press. And inferring from his beliefs, one would assume he was, indeed, pro-Europe. For example, Macron believes we should have a shared European strategy when it comes to dealing with humanitarian issues and international intervention. “The fact that the refugee crisis exists is proof that we do not have a shared political strategy for the protection of our borders, of development and humanitarian politics. And so we deal with the consequences,” said Macron. “If Europe had been able to formulate a coordinated plan to tackle the Syrian refugee crisis, including the first camps in Turkey and Lebanon, then we would never have had to deal with that first route from the Balkans which allowed millions of refugees to come to Europe.”

Emmanuel Macron on colonialism

Macron has previously denounced France’s colonisation of Algeria as a “crime against humanity”, and insists that his country should face its past head on, rather than stick its head in the sand. “We have to help Africa and acknowledge it head on, without any false postcolonial coyness,” he said. “It’s because we didn’t know how to organise a humanitarian response to the situations in Lebanon and in Turkey that we have the refugee crisis.”

Share this article

Recommended

What Britain can learn from Emmanuel Macron's victory

Is there a British Emmanuel Macron? Those who believe that the UK needs a new party will have taken heart from Macron’s remarkable creation of En Marche!, a movement that did not exist until last year.